That "typical hero/heroine" statement from Sakurai really does grind my metaphorical gears.
What, should Link, Samus, Shulk, Pit, Little Mac, and the 7 Fire Emblem characters be removed just because they're all somewhat standard heroes/heroines? (Compared to Piranha Plant, anyway)
No?
Then what would be the harm of adding one that represents a new series instead of Pokémon #10?
God, I hate this statement from him. It's stupid to hear him say that when
in this game even, he continues to add the "generic hero type" with Simon, plus Chrom, Richter, and even Ken. Plus, Smash is
built on Nintendo characters, and the most memorable of these tend to be, get this,
the protagonists. The recognizable characters are the ones we play as, and not the generic enemies we fight against (with
very rare exceptions, like DQ's Slime). No one's gonna get excited over adding, say, Koopa, if characters like that become the norm. The hype comes from characters we're attached to, not randos from Mario. Not to mention he basically said Rex would be in the game if they had time, when Rex is the
****ing perfect example of "generic hero". Sakurai bias is real, guys, and it's true for Fire Emblem and Xenoblade.
And
nothing upsets me more than adding another ****ing Pokémon. It's stupid that it gets its own slot, when even Mario isn't guaranteed a new spot. Yes, it's the biggest media franchise in the world. Whatever. Smash isn't supposed to be about promoting a franchise, and Pokémon doesn't need it anyway. When you blatantly contradict yourself by stating "it gets boring when it's just generic hero types" and adding another (and quite frankly forgettable) Pokémon, it makes you look bad. The November 1st Direct probably hurt Sakurai a
lot in the long run, and I know it hurt my impression of him. It's a problem with marketing when you announce a game as "Everyone Is Here!" and it seems to be very fan-influenced, then finish off with a casual pick and someone
quite literally no one asked for on the ballot. It's just frustrating knowing we'll always be behind when it comes to the corporate picks and the Sakurai bias. We've been ****ed by timing, since it's clear Sakurai doesn't have the memories for the GBA era that he does the NES era, but we got ****ed again by timing
and Sakurai bias when he added Shulk over Isaac/Matthew in Smash 4, when Golden Sun was the newer game
and older series, but Sakurai enjoyed Xenoblade.
Oh man, I needed to get that off my chest.